This invention relates to firearms, and it relates more particularly to an improved magazine catch for latching a removable magazine in position in the gun.
It is common practice to provide cartridge-holding lips or guide members at the open end of a magazine in order to guide the cartridges out of the magazine and into the chamber during the chambering operation. Nevertheless, malfunctions in reloading guns which employ this feature sometimes occur, especially in automatic or semi-automatic weapons, because the guide members on the magazine may not be properly positioned with respect to the cartridge chamber of the gun. Such misalignment is frequently due to the fact that it is difficult to hold manufacturing tolerances in the magazine catch, and/or in the magazine, close enough to prevent the guide members on the magazine from being too high or low with respect to the cartridge chamber. The cartridges therefore may not feed properly into the chamber and the gun becomes jammed.
An excellent magazine catch which overcomes this difficulty is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,372,506 to Wilhelm. In the Wilhelm catch, which has been used extensively for more than ten years on "High Standard" automatic pistols manufactured by applicant's assignee and its predecessors, the base plate of the magazine is constantly urged against a fixed portion of the frame of the pistol by a latch pin, which is driven at an angle against the underside of the magazine so that it wedges the base plate into solid engagement with a fixed portion of the frame, thereby precisely positioning the cartridge-guide members on the magazine.
An object of the present invention is to provide an improved magazine catch similar to that shown in Wilhelm U.S. Pat. No. 3,372,506, but in which the magazine can be inserted and removed more easily. Other objects of the invention are to reduce manufacturing costs, and to facilitate disassembly and reassembly of the catch, so that the owner of the gun can make any necessary repairs himself, instead of having to return the gun to the manufacturer or take it to a gunshop.